17 replies to this topic

[Yurkie]

He posted about is up in ColecoVision Programming, but I think it is worth an extra post.

I will not claim to know much about it, but basically is replaces the video of the system with a VGA video module. In the case of the ColecoVision and all the video issues it has, this module is a real nice thing. Only thing is that you would have a VGA only ColecoVision, no rf, or any kind of mods would work.

Here is a link to his thread. I will install a 40 pin socket for $20 for anyone that wants to install one of these and not risk ruining the PCB removing the VDP and installing the socket. I will consider installing the module and VGA jack and adding an audio jack.

Here is a link. Please read all this info and ask questions. I am very impressed that this gentleman went to so much work and think homebrewers need and deserve our support.

http://www.atariage....f18a-pre-order/

[retroillucid]

As soon as they'll be available, I'm in for sure!

[5-11under]

retroillucid, on Thu Feb 9, 2012 10:12 PM, said:

As soon as they'll be available, I'm in for sure!

You need to pre-order. Now would be a good time to do that.

[retroillucid]

5-11under, on Thu Feb 9, 2012 10:16 PM, said:

retroillucid, on Thu Feb 9, 2012 10:12 PM, said:

As soon as they'll be available, I'm in for sure!

You need to pre-order. Now would be a good time to do that.

Guess this's what I'll do

Edited by retroillucid, Thu Feb 9, 2012 10:53 PM.

[Gandor]

Yurkie, on Thu Feb 9, 2012 10:03 PM, said:

He posted about is up in ColecoVision Programming, but I think it is worth an extra post.

I will not claim to know much about it, but basically is replaces the video of the system with a VGA video module. In the case of the ColecoVision and all the video issues it has, this module is a real nice thing. Only thing is that you would have a VGA only ColecoVision, no rf, or any kind of mods would work.

Here is a link to his thread. I will install a 40 pin socket for $20 for anyone that wants to install one of these and not risk ruining the PCB removing the VDP and installing the socket. I will consider installing the module and VGA jack and adding an audio jack.

Here is a link. Please read all this info and ask questions. I am very impressed that this gentleman went to so much work and think homebrewers need and deserve our support.

http://www.atariage....f18a-pre-order/

If it is not too late can I have the VDP put in a socket on the ColecoVision I ordered?
I am not going to order a F18A yet but I would like to have the option to do it later.

Thanks,

G.

Edited by Gandor, Fri Feb 10, 2012 12:53 AM.

[matthew180]

Thanks everyone for the responses! I hope the 100-unit level is reached soon so I can get these out to everyone.

By the way, the $20 service fee Yurkie is asking for to socket your VDP is *extremely* reasonable (IMO)! The CV boards are old, and removing the original VDP without doing damage is a pain in the @ss. I've done two of them so far for testing, and I hope to never have to do another. Even if you are handy with a soldering iron, for $20 I'd still consider having Yurkie do it.

Anyway, pre-order please, so I can put in the order to have these manufactured. :-)

[harlock76]

pre ordered

[Yurkie]

Sorry for any confusion. I should have explained better. I will remove the VDP and install a socket. Removing the VDP without damaging it or the board or both is difficult to do. I clip the pins and remove them and then I clean all the pins holes out and install the Dual wipe socket.

Edited by Yurkie, Fri Feb 10, 2012 11:20 AM.

[Ikrananka]

Yurkie, on Fri Feb 10, 2012 11:19 AM, said:

Sorry for any confusion. I should have explained better. I will remove the VDP and install a socket. Removing the VDP without damaging it or the board or both is difficult to do. I clip the pins and remove them and then I clean all the pins holes out and install the Dual wipe socket.

Would you also mount the VGA connector onto the CV case or just have the ribbon cable coming through the case?

I have sent my pre-order. This will be great for my future MAME/ColecoVision cabinet project.

[retroillucid]

Ordered mine too

[Yurkie]

Ikrananka, on Fri Feb 10, 2012 1:30 PM, said:

Yurkie, on Fri Feb 10, 2012 11:19 AM, said:

Sorry for any confusion. I should have explained better. I will remove the VDP and install a socket. Removing the VDP without damaging it or the board or both is difficult to do. I clip the pins and remove them and then I clean all the pins holes out and install the Dual wipe socket.

Would you also mount the VGA connector onto the CV case or just have the ribbon cable coming through the case?

I have sent my pre-order. This will be great for my future MAME/ColecoVision cabinet project.

Yes, but not sure how much time, or what methodology I would use. I am thinking a single jack for audio, cord would be audio jack like headphones on one side and red and white RCA on the other. I ideally would like to include a VGA cable and audio cable so it was ready to plug and play. I am guessing $70 total, but that would depend on supplies and time involved.

If one person wants to send a CV and have the vga board shipped to me, I will do yours and figure everything out, and no matter how long it takes I will honor the $70 price. This would then help determine if a service is something I would be interested in.

[matthew180]

Quick update. The F18A feature set is complete and the focus is now on fixing any bugs found in beta testing and building boards. I have a ADAM computer on loan to me with a 128-in-1 cart that is proving *very* helpful. So far I have not found any games that do not work, except for those that don't work on the ADAM like Super Cobra (which does work fine in my CV with the F18A).

The stability has been very good since the last round of fixes and I'm very happy with how the F18A is working in the CV and ADAM. I have included some photos here of some games being tested. Any blurry screen are due to graphics in motion when the photo was taken.

Compared to the 99/4A (my native classic system), I'm really liking the games on the CV and ADAM. The 99/4A games were so lame in the use of the graphics, and it is cool to see what really can be done with the 9918A/28/29 in systems like the CV and MSX1.

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[boxpressed]

Just wanted to bump this because I'm listening to the hosts of the Retro Computing Roundtable talk about this new chip. Looks very cool! Any updates?

[harlock76]

here's what i received by email :

I wanted to send a quick update to let everyone know that board construction has officially started! Finally all the pieces came together with the reflow oven, controller, profile software I had to write, and just getting everything working and in the same place.

Attached is a photo of the first three boards made in the reflow oven. All three tested and worked fine. It was really exciting and I wanted to share the progress with everyone. I'm still working out how many I will be able to complete in a day, but it should not take too long to complete all the pre-orders. I do still have some testing to do on the firmware / software side though, but I'm hoping I can manage to complete that work by the time the boards are done.

One last thing, if you have not sent me a reply indicating which system(s) you plan to use your F18A with, please do so. About half of you replied the first time around, and I'd like to try and make sure everyone gets an F18A with the pin option that best works with your system.

Thank you everyone for your patience and support!

Matthew

[matthew180]

boxpressed, on Fri May 18, 2012 8:24 AM, said:

Just wanted to bump this because I'm listening to the hosts of the Retro Computing Roundtable talk about this new chip. Looks very cool! Any updates?

Cool, do you have a link to the talk? Obviously I'm very interested in anyone talking about the F18A. I know it has been a while since I updated the F18A thread, but I've been spending my spare time building boards and writing test programs. I have some new pictures and hope to get a public update soon. Apparently harlock76 is a pre-order customer (I don't know most of the people who pre-ordered, and I have no idea who they might be in any of the forums), but I am trying to keep those who paid somewhat up to date via email.

I finally got my reflow oven working and I have built about 30 boards as of today (I made 20 in the last two days). So, the pre-order hardware should be done soon, and I then just need to finish the testing, write the install docs, and get them shipped.

If anyone has any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. I'm mostly active in the 99/4A sub-forum, but I lurk here and a few other places as well.

[boxpressed]

Here you go: http://rcrpodcast.co...episode-23.html

This podcast is available on iTunes as well.

Keep up the good work! This is a very cool project. The 99/4A and ColecoVision were very important to me as a kid.

[matthew180]

Cool, thanks for the link, I just listened to the segment. It was a little strange listening to people talk about something I made, and not being able to answer the questions was frustrating.

I think the final question one of them asked was "why was it named after the jet fighter?" Actually it was not, it just worked out that way. The "F" is for FPGA, the "18A" is from TMS9918A, i.e. the chip being replaced. I suppose the name might make it hard to find via Google, but it is too late to change in now.

[boxpressed]

To be honest, when I first saw this thread title, I thought the discussion was about a stealth fighter game, which I'm not interested in, so I didn't open the thread until after I had heard the podcast! I'm glad I did, though.